


Software Virus

by orphan_account



Series: Connor Copes with Deviancy [2]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Connor & Markus (Detroit: Become Human) Friendship, Connor Deserves Happiness, DBH sickfic, Deviant Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Hank Anderson Swears, Hank Anderson is a dad, Other, Protective Parent Hank Anderson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-10
Updated: 2019-09-10
Packaged: 2020-10-13 19:35:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20587919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Connor gets sick and Hank realizes what this kid means to him.





	Software Virus

Hank frowned as he clicked through his terminal. This was the second android murder of the week and the twelfth this month. It was odd, seeing so many murders now. It really put into perspective how much crime against androids there was before the revolution, and how seriously they're taking it now. The crime rates after the revolution decreased greatly, thanks to Markus, but there were still antis that wanted to get deviant androids out of the picture and there were still androids who wanted those antis gone. It was a vicious cycle that probably wouldn't ever end.  
"Hey, Connor, have you seen any of these cases?" He asked, "They're pretty gruesome."

Upon getting no answer, he frowned again. "Conn-" He looked over and saw that Connor, who'd been working for hours on end at this point, had slipped into rest mode for the fourth time that hour and had let his head fall to the crook of his elbow on the desktop. Hank frowned- he knew there was something going on by the oddness of Connor's behavior. He'd woken up before the android this morning, which was a definite first, and his movements after being woken by Hank were sluggish. His LED hadn't strayed from a sickly yellow all day and Hank was beginning to worry after seeing Connor pass out like this. Looking at him now, he saw that Connor's face was pale- or, the android equivalent of pale- and there were dark smudges beneath his eyes. He looked, quite literally, like a wreck. Hank sighed and reached over, touching Connor's shoulder lightly and shaking. 

"Connor," He called softly to the detective, his movements gentle as to nicely rouse the android from his short nap.

The android groaned and moved away from the touch as if to try and stay asleep, but when Hank snapped his fingers in front of his face, he shot up with a crackling, slurred "I'm awake!" followed by a short coughing fit. Hank was about to stand and go over there when Connor's coughing tapered and he inhaled deeply.  
He blinked blearily and looked around, realizing that he'd passed out again. He sighed, low and deep in his throat, and rubbed his face- a habit he'd picked up after deviating.   
"I apologize," he mumbled, his voice rusted and quiet, "I didn't realize..."

"It's okay. Just... try not to do it again."

Connor gave a curt nod and turned back to his terminal, his tired eyes dragging across the lines of small print, line after line, page after page. Hank gave the android one last glance and turned back to his own, once again clicking through the cases that the precinct had pegged as important enough to give to him and Connor.   
When he checked the clock again ten minutes later, he saw that there was only an hour and a half before they were okay to leave for the day. That was good- if Connor could stick it out for the rest of their shift, then they'd be golden to go home and Connor could sleep this off and be back on his feet within a couple of days. He looked over to his partner and sighed when he saw half-lidded eyes glazed over, gazing at the terminal without really reading the text. Hank looked at the android with sympathy

"Hey, Con." Connor jerked up, not realizing that he was spacing out, and rubbed his eyes, responding with a half-hearted "Yeah?"

"You good there, kid?" Hank asked, giving his partner a concerned gaze. Connor waved him off.

"Yes, I've run a diagnostic and nothing seems to be wrong," He said, not meeting Hank's eyes. Connor had always been a terrible liar. Hank sighed but didn't relent. 

"Do you think you can make it to the end of the day? You seem pretty sick."

"Androids can't get s-" He cut himself off by coughing into his elbow, the sounds mucousy and wet. It sounded painful, and Hank winced every time he heard it. Connor groaned and put his head in his hands, looking dizzy. "Ow."

"Connor, I--"

"I'm fine, Lieutenant." He cut Hank off with a snappish tone, then realized what he did. "I'm sorry," He ran a hand through his hair. "I'm just... tired." Hank wasn't buying it. He narrowed his eyes at the android.

"Do you need to see Remmie?" Remmie, who was the DPD's android mechanic ever since after the revolution, worked in the building and treated any android officer's minor wounds and assessed android criminals when they were brought in. Connor shook his head, afterward putting a hand to his temple and sighing. 

"I'm fine," He said again, though Hank wasn't convinced.

"Just go to see if there's anything wrong, then you can come back to your desk. If you're right and it's nothing, you get to tell me I told you so. But even if it is nothing, I'd rather you get checked then shut down on me."

Connor stiffened and averted his gaze at the mention of shutting down. It was a touchy subject, given the number of times he'd almost shut down in the near year he'd been working with the DPD. He finally met Hank's gaze again and gave a slight nod.

He stood and immediately swayed, almost falling back into his chair until Hank came over and let Connor lean on him. "I... I can go on my own; I don't need help."

"Bullshit. I'm coming with you." Connor opened his mouth, probably to retort, but then realized that Hank was more stubborn than he was and finally gave in, letting Hank go under his arm and help him stumble through the precinct to the elevators. Hank met Gavin's gaze as they left, seeing the man watching them with a face he couldn't read. 

Connor began to shiver when they got into the elevator. He looked worse than when he'd been at his desk and he leaned on Hank more heavily. "...I'm cold."

Hank frowned, worried. "I'll lend you my jacket when we get back to the desk." Connor nodded slowly at this.

Remmie was walking around, doing all sorts of things when they got to her office. She looked up as Hank helped Connor sit on one of the vacant beds and smiled. "Connor! Lieutenant! Nice to see you both." She walked over to them, pulling a tablet out of her coat and opening Connor's file. Her LED spun a bright, happy blue, then spun a pensive yellow when reading the file. "What brought you in today?"

Connor didn't answer, seemingly too consumed in his own diagnostics that he couldn't speak. So Hank, upon seeing this, spoke for him. "He's been passing out at his desk all day," He spoke as Remmie typed things up on her tablet. "And he's been coughing and zoning out and he's got some sort of chills and it even looks like he's in pain. It's like he has a cold or something. Is it even possible for him to have one?"

Remmie hummed, her LED spinning in thought. "Normally, no. But recently, especially around this office for some strange reason, there's been a sort of cold or flu going around that only affects androids."

"So... he's sick?"

"Yeah. It's a temporary software virus that should be gone within a week untreated. If he drinks a combination of"- she walked over and pulled a glass bottle of green liquid from a drawer, walking back- "this and thirium, he should be better within three or four days."

"Hey, Con, is she right? Do you have a bug in ya?"

Connor frowned, looking down at his hands and nodding. "Yes," he muttered. "I"- he cut himself off to have a coughing fit- "I lied earlier."

Hank shook his head, rolling his eyes. "Obviously, you stupid fuckin' android."

Remmie hummed, frowning. "His symptoms seem worse than what I've seen in recent weeks, though. How long has it been festering?"

Hank opened his mouth, prepared to say 'this morning', but Connor cut in. "Three days."

"Three days?!" Hank whirled around to face his android partner. "You've been feeling like this for three days and you haven't told me?"

"It's never... It hasn't been this bad. I thought you knew- I'd been going into stasis more, at the very least."

And then Hank realized that yes, Connor was right. They'd had movie night two days before and Connor fell asleep in the middle of the movie. The next day, he'd taken work home and Hank found him in the morning slumped over his tablet. Hank hadn't thought much of it, only that the android had to be pretty tired from working so much and just needed to recharge his batteries, so to speak. But he'd been wrong, and now he could see everything where he hadn't been able to before. 

"Shit, Con," He sighed, rubbing his face. "You gotta tell me these things." 

"Sorry," Connor muttered, looking down at his hands where he was shakily fiddling with a coin. "It won't happen again." He looked so guilty, right then. So small. He shook with chills and he looked exhausted, like he hadn't slept in years even though he'd been in rest mode on and off for the past days. His breaths were raspy, his voice was slightly too metallic, and his LED was circling a soft red. He looked like shit, and Hank felt horrible for guilting him. He turned away and said nothing.   
Remmie, reading the situation, pulled out a second bottle of the green liquid and pushed them into Hank's hands. 

"Make sure he takes a tablespoon every four hours," she murmured to him. "and make him leave. Doing work is only gonna make his condition worse from this point. I'll send a message to Fowler, just... take him home. Let him rest."

Hank gave her a forced smile and thanked her, taking the bottles and helping Connor up as he stumbled to his feet. They walked to the lobby and Hank sat Connor down with the promise that he'd be back in a couple of minutes after getting their stuff, and with only a little protest from Connor, he did. He walked over to the desk and began gathering their things, purposefully leaving Connor's tablet on his desk, and was about to grab his jacket when he was stopped by Gavin.

"Where's the plastic prick?" Reed asked, arms crossed in front of him. Hank rolled his eyes.

"It's none of your fuckin' business, Reed," He responded sharply. He pushed past the officer, not looking back. Ordinarily, his pride wouldn't have let him back down like that, but he needed to get back to Connor. It was more important than arguing at the moment, and Hank knew that the kid would need him.

He stepped into the lobby and saw Connor looking down at his shaking hands as he played with his coin and dropped it over and over. Hank frowned and walked over, handing the detective his own coat. Connor looked at it and didn't take it, looking up at Hank with confusion.

"Lieutenant," He rasped, "the temperature outside is 22 degrees. You could contract hypothermia." But, in all his protesting glory, a visible chill ran down his spine. 

"You've got the chills, Con. Just put it on and shut up." Connor didn't look like he had the energy to talk back. He took it and wrapped it around himself, coughing and looking up at Hank pitifully. He looked so sick, Hank thought to himself. They needed to go home. 

And so they did. They walked to the car in the freezing cold and drove home quietly while Hank tried to keep Connor awake. It was hard- the heat was blasting and Hank's coat was over him like a blanket and his eyes were half-lidded and drooping. He would try to say something and Connor would mutter something back inaudibly or even not say anything at all. Eventually, he allowed the android to fall into a light doze, leaning his head against the window. He would be roused by slight bumps in the road and would whine every now and then when he coughed and it hurt, but other than that the drive was silent. 

Waking Connor wasn't hard, but helping him inside was. The exhaustion had rendered Connor pretty much dead weight, and Hank's back really wasn't in the state to carry that weight, but he knew Connor would just collapse if he tried to walk on his own, so it was necessary.   
Sumo boofed softly when they walked inside, trotting up to them and whining as if he knew Connor was distress. The android smiled and cooed at the dog, making Hank smile. He walked the android over to the couch where he'd taken up residence and sat him down, watching as he leaned back against the cushions. Hank took that opportunity to kneel in front of him and put his hand on Connor's forehead.

"You've got a fever," Hank murmured, pulling his hand back.

Connor looked at the officer. "My ventilation isn't workin' correctly"- he stopped and coughed as if to emphasize his point- "so my biocomponents are overheating slightly. Nothin' to worry about, Lieutenant..." His slurred speech trailed off, his body leaning further into the couch as he closed his eyes.

"You can't sleep yet, Connor. I'm sorry, but you gotta change and take your meds."

Connor hummed at this, opening his eyes just a tad to look at Hank with dissatisfaction. "I'm tired," He complained. Hank chuckled. 

"I know. The sooner we finish here the sooner you can enter stasis or whatever you call that shit you do to sleep."

Connor groaned but finally agreed to letting Hank help him up and take him to the bathroom where he was sat on the toilet and given a new set of clothing. Connor trudged out of the bathroom with a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. Comfortable, for once in his life. Hank walked him back to the couch and when he was sat down, the detective was given a small cup of the green liquid. Connor downed it but immediately felt the urge to spit it out. He didn't, but that didn't mean he liked it any more. 

Hank took the cup and watched as the android took the extra pillows and blankets he'd brought in to make himself comfortable, lying down and sighing. "Is there anything else I can do?" Hank found himself asking.

Connor opened his big, brown doe eyes and looked at Hank with such a longing that it tugged at the older man's heartstrings. "Stay," He murmured, "Please."

Hank's heart quite simply melted and he sighed. He sat down, moving the pillows so that the android's head was in his lap. Connor sighed, nestling his heated face into Hank's own sweatpants and closing his eyes once more. 

Hank found that, with enough playing with Connor's hair, it came out curly. This was new- Connor sleeping on his lap, sick. It made the android look so, so human, this vulnerability. Other than the yellow LED on the side of his head, he looked so human. It reminded him of Cole. Connor reminded him of Cole. This made him feel like a dad again. It hurt, in a way, but he knew that Connor wasn't a replacement. Nobody could ever replace his son. He was just finally able to love again.

He brushed the hair from Connor's face and smiled. This was his son. 

\----

Hank awoke to muttering in the early hours of the morning. He groaned and looked around for the source of the noise, seeing nothing but Sumo still asleep on the floor and Connor on his lap. Wait- he looked down to see Connor, LED blinking red, his mouth moving with incoherent whispers as his eyes flicked around under his eyelids. He could make out only a few words. Markus. Amanda. Sorry. No. Hank. 

Hank frowned and put his hand once more in Connor's hair in an attempt to calm him down. This, apparently, didn't work, as Connor shot up, narrowly missing colliding with Hank's nose. He scooted back, tucking himself in a corner and curling up into a ball. HIs LED blared and Hank could hear sniffling from the compacted panic that was Connor at that moment. 

"Connor, you okay?" 

Connor flinched at Hank's voice, scooting back even more. "I didn' mean to..." He whispered, his voice slurring more than it had before. "Don' hurt me."

"I'm not gonna hurt you," Hank frowned as he spoke.

"I don' wanna die," he whimpered.

"You're not gonna die."

"I feel like I'm dying," 

"You're not,"

"Am I going to die?"

"No."

Connor didn't sound like he was listening to the older man at all. He just stayed tucked in his corner, crying to himself and psyching himself up so badly that his stress levels skyrocketed.   
"Con, what are your stress levels?"

Connor was silent for a moment before his programming answered for him. 

96% ^ AND RISING.

Shit. Connor was gonna self-destruct. He shushed the android and talked to him quietly in an attempt to calm him down. It didn't work, and Connor hyperventilated even more.

[CRITICAL]: STRESS LEVELS 99% ^^^

ENGAGING ZEN GARDEN

ERROR

ERROR

ZEN GARDEN UNAVAILABLE

SELF-DESTRUCTION IMMINENT

ENGAGING ZEN GARDEN

ERROR

ERROR

ERROR

SELF-DESTRUCTION IN 10... 9... 8... 7...

Hank cursed and quickly pulled a now limp Connor into his arms, knowing exactly what was going to happen.

6... 5... 4...

He held the android's hands behind his back and his head securely in the crook of his neck as if to protect him from what he was about to do to himself.

3... 2... 1...  
SELF DESTRUCTION IMMINENT.

Connor jerked up with a near yell, thrashing in Hank's arms. He tried to get away from the Lieutenant, but what he didn't know was that Hank, stubborn as all hell and strong when he needed to be, wasn't gonna let him go so easily.

"Hhh-... hhh- aaaa--" Connor's eyes were wild, his LED blaring and throbbing a bright red. 

"I'm right here, kid, shh," Hank tried to stay and to keep his voice as calm as possible for the situation. He ran the free hand he had over Connor's hair, trying to settle him a little. The android got one of his hands free and grabbed Hank's arm, digging blunt nails into it. "Hh-aaaaann-... nnnk," he cried, and that's when Hank realized that Connor had been calling his name. 

"Oh, jeez, okay, I'm right next to you, kid," he near-whispered, thankful that Connor's nails couldn't go through the skin. Tears rolled down the android's face, his teeth gritting and his jaw clenching.   
He suddenly pushed Hank away, falling on the floor between the coffee table and the couch, then scrambling to stand and running into the kitchen. He fell to his knees and slammed his head on the floor over and over until he drew blood, and even then he didn't stop. Hank, a split second after Connor ripped himself from his grasp, ran after the android, his back protesting angrily at the sudden movement. Even still, he got on his knees in front of Connor and pulled him into another embrace. Connor thrashed, trying to get out of Hank's grip, crying out for him and crying.   
Eventually, after what felt like hours of the android self-destructing but in actuality was only around ten minutes, Connor's thrashing tapered off and he came to enough to stop trying to hurt himself, just sobbing into the Lieutenant's shoulder. Hank could feel the hot tears through his t-shirt and could hear the sniffles, the gasps, the hitches of breath. He could feel the blue blood seeping through and temporarily staining his sweatpants, could feel the heat radiating off of Connor in waves from the overheat.   
He closed his eyes, his eyebrows knitting together as he held the android closer.  
"You're okay," Hank whispered. "Shh, you're fine."

"H-Hank...?"

"Yeah, kid," He said, putting his hand on the back of Connor's head. "It's me."


End file.
